New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Tests Positive for COVID-19

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, saying she will isolate and work remotely this week.

“Thankfully, I’m vaccinated and boosted, and I’m asymptomatic,” Hochul, 63, tweeted. “A reminder to all New Yorkers: get vaccinated and boosted, get tested, and stay home if you don’t feel well.”

A day earlier, the Democratic governor had tweeted a photo from the Olana State Historic Site outside Hudson, New York, which she visited to thank park volunteers.

Hochul is at least the 18th U.S. governor to test positive for COVID-19, according to an Associated Press tally. Several U.S. governors have tested positive in recent months, with Connecticut’s Ned Lamont and Maine’s Janet Mills testing positive in April. New York City Mayor Eric Adams tested positive on April 10, his 100th day in office.

Hochul’s positive test comes amid rising case numbers in New York. For weeks, much of upstate New York has been in the high-alert orange zone, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designation that reflects serious community spread.

New York City last week crossed the city’s threshold for “medium risk,” indicating the widening spread of the subvariant knowns as BA.2 that has swept the state’s northern reaches.